Fabric Objective Measurement

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY

fabric objective measurement

INTRODUCTION

WITH the development of new fibres and the continuous enhancement of new material structures, the variety of different fabric materials has become immense over the years and is still increasing (smart textiles). the development of such a variety of different materials makes it difficult to evaluate the fabrics according their quality and suitability. The concept of ‘fabric hand’, ‘handle’ or simply ‘hand’ is an important method of fabric assessment which was introduced by the apparel and textile industry.

TRADITIONAL SUBJECTIVE FABRIC EVALUATION

The subjective evaluation of fabrics becomes notably a challenging task, if for example a panel of people is assessing the fabrics. Individual evaluators maybe perform the test procedure differently and a consistency in the test results cannot be guaranteed any more. The same problem appears for subjective assessments, which are conducted at different places or at different times.

Kawabata Evaluation System (KES)

The Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) is used to make objective measurements of hand properties. The KES instruments measure mechanical properties that correspond to the fundamental deformation of fabrics in hand manipulation.

The system was developed by a team lead by Professor Kawabata in the department of polymer chemistry, Kyoto University Japan. The initial work started in 1968 and the system became commercially available in its present form since 1978.

“The KES’s biggest advantage is the ability that the machines in the system have to measure very small strain values with a high degree of sensitivity and accuracy. This capability allows very specific properties, such as shear, tensile, compression, bending, and surface, of ‘fabric hand’ to be separately and accurately measured. This advantage makes the KES the most advanced measurement tool for the objective measurement of ‘fabric hand’.”

The system...